Courts in Punjab to hold case hearings via video link
Pakistan
Pilot project successful in Vehari; Scope now being expanded to seven more districts
LAHORE (Dunya News) – The local courts in Punjab will now not require the jail administration to present the accused in courtrooms for the hearing of their cases as the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday decided to avail communication technology for the purpose.
A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by LHC Justice Shujaat Ali Khan and attended by the Punjab IG Prisons, information technology experts and other officials.
They decided that the judges would hold hearing of cases via video link – a move resulting in greatly reducing overcrowding, backlog by expediting the process and government expenditure.
Initially, a pilot project was executed in Vehari district, which proved to be a great success, thus paving the way for expanding its scope.
From Nov 7, the project is going to be implemented in seven more districts namely Rawalpindi, Mianwali, Jhelum, Chakwal, Muzaffargarh, Bhakkar and Chiniot.
In a first in Pakistan’s history, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa last month ordered live telecast of a case pertaining to the legislation introduced to cripple the chief justice’s powers in formation of benches and taking suo motto cases.
The idea of video conferences got widespread acceptance during pandemic around the world as both the governments and the businesses had to adopt technology amid the travel restrictions.
